The Blue Butterfly: A Liz Lucas Cozy Mystery

by Dianne Harman

  “Well, since he told you all that, why do you want me to see him? Do you think he’s leaving something out?”

  “No, but I think you might be able to get fuller descriptions of the people than he gave me. He didn’t recognize any of the people other than the Jefferson employee, who appeared to be rather sickly. I’ve been thinking about him and as sick as he seems to be, it seems odd to me he’d go out to the Jefferson Lumber property. If he’s going to sue Jefferson Lumber, I wouldn’t think he’d want to be on their property. If he was my client, and I was going to file suit on his behalf, I’d tell him not to have anything to do with the company and to stay away from their property. I rather doubt his doctor would want him to physically exert himself by walking around out in the woods. I think he’d need all of his energy to be channeled into healing.”

  “I agree. I look forward to talking to Mark. Wait a minute. I just thought of something.” She walked over to the desk and picked up her purse. “Roger, I told you I had an interesting day as well. I spent quite a bit of time with Ruby Myers. I’m sure you remember Gertie talking about Ruby’s husband, George. She’s the one that Seth told me was missing the night before David’s body was discovered. After I met with Ruby I went to her husband’s home and talked to him.”

  For the next half hour she described her meetings with both of them and how she’d made arrangements for Ruby to go to Sacramento and stay in David’s apartment until there was some resolution of the situation.

  “Wait a minute, Liz, are you telling me you went to George Myers’ home after Ruby told you she was terrified of him? To say nothing of the fact that I seem to remember Gertie telling Seth that she knew he was the one who’d killed David?”

  Liz squirmed a little in the chair she was sitting in and tried to avoid Roger’s eyes, and then started speaking very rapidly. “Roger, I knew you wouldn’t be happy about me going to see George, so I took Winston with me. I don’t think George is a dog person, because he was very cool to Winston and really didn’t want him to come into his house. I told him Winston was a therapy dog, and my doctor insisted he be with me at all times. I also had my gun in my purse.”

  “Swell, that’s just swell. Oh, Liz, what am I going to do with you? Not only did you go to the home of someone who is known to have had a bad temper in the past, but you also just alerted him to the fact that you’re probably working with the police chief to help him solve the murder. It’s pretty easy to go on the Internet and see where you’ve been involved in solving them before. If he’s the killer, now he’s aware you might know something, and he may feel he needs to kill you. Liz, this may call for more than Winston and a gun.”

  “Well, Roger, as a matter of fact I do know something. I know that George Myers is a liar, and that he was out near the scene of the murder about the time David was killed.”

  He raised an eyebrow and said, “Since he didn’t tell you that, how could you know?”

  Liz told him about her meeting with Joan Markham and the photographs she’d given to Liz. She took them out of her purse and handed them to Roger. “See the man in this one? That’s George Myers. Joan took his photograph as he was walking to his car. There are three other photographs of people who could be considered suspects. Joan commented that this man didn’t look very healthy,” Liz said as she pointed to one of the photographs. “Maybe he’s the one from Jefferson Lumber. If he is, then maybe the man I’m going to meet in your office tomorrow can identify him. If he can, and if it’s him, that would leave two of the people in the photographs still unidentified, namely the young woman and the young man. I don’t know how I can find out who they are.”

  “For whatever it’s worth, Liz, I have the utmost confidence in you, and I’m sure you’ll find a way to do it. What I do ask is that you don’t go anywhere without Winston and your gun. From now on I’d like you to keep the front door of the lodge locked. I know you usually keep it open in case a guest wants to come in and use their laptop or tablet to access the Internet since there isn’t any Wi-Fi in the cottages, but that needs to be changed. Matter of fact, why don’t you leave a note on the door that you’re changing the open door policy, and from now on guests will have to ring the doorbell or knock. I don’t think anyone would find that unusual, and it just might save your life.”

  “You’re not making me feel very good. I prefer to look at the world as a glass half-full. I’m getting the distinct feeling you’re looking at it as a glass half-empty.”

  “I prefer to think of it as being realistic, a word I don’t think you’re particularly familiar with, and one you might want to make use of a bit more,” he said scowling.

  “Okay, I get the message. I promise I’ll be very careful. I think as long as I’m going into your office tomorrow I’ll stop by the diner and talk to Gertie. She knows everything that’s happening in this town. Maybe something’s happened I don’t know about. Looks like a busy day. Ready for bed?”

  “Lady, I thought you’d never ask! That’s the first thing you’ve said in an hour that appeals to me. Lead the way.”

  CHAPTER 20

  A few minutes before 11:00 the next morning Liz parked her van in front of Roger’s office, let Winston out, and the two of them walked into his law office. She nodded to a man sitting in the reception area who was wearing a plaid flannel shirt, jeans, and heavy boots. “Morning, Jessica. Would you tell Roger I’m here?” she said to Roger’s secretary. Jessica had been with Roger for a number of years, and when he’d decided to open the office in Red Cedar as a branch office of his San Francisco law firm, Jessica had told him that since she wasn’t married and didn’t have children, if it was all right with him, she’d like to continue working for him and move to Red Cedar.

  Roger was really happy she’d made that decision. He’d even told Liz he hesitated to open a law office in Red Cedar, because he’d have to train a new secretary, and he’d said he was spoiled by having had an excellent one like Jessica for so many years. Fortunately it had worked out to everyone’s advantage.

  Jessica buzzed Roger and told him that Liz and Mark Bailey were both in the office. A moment later Roger opened the door of his office. “Please come in,” he said. “Liz, I’d like you to meet Mark Bailey with Jefferson Lumber Company. Mark, this is my wife Liz, and our dog, Winston. He’s a guard dog I got for Liz, because I get a little paranoid about some of the things Liz finds herself involved in. I’m the one who insists she take Winston with her everywhere she goes. Please sit down. Would you like some coffee or water?”

  Liz and Mark declined, and Roger began to speak, “Mark, when we talked yesterday you mentioned on the day David Sanders was murdered, you were in the area where he was killed. As I understand it, you were getting ready to log some trees on the Jefferson Lumber Company property. You told me you saw several people that were also in the area on that day. Through a quirk of fate, Liz was able to obtain photographs of some people who were in that area about the same time as the murder. There are four photographs and each one is dated and time stamped as well. I’d like you to take a look at them, and see if you can identify any of the people in the photographs.”

  Liz handed him the photos and sat back to observe his reaction. He turned over three of them, but when he looked at the fourth photo he said, “The man in this photograph is Brad Cassidy. He works for Jefferson Lumber Company. Brad has cancer and is quite ill. He’s been unable to work for several months.”

  “I’m not surprised he has cancer,” Roger said. “When I saw the photograph I thought the man in it looked very unhealthy. What else can you tell me about him?”

  Mark was quiet for a few moments and then looked at Roger and said, “Since you’re a lawyer, if I say something you can’t tell Lewis Jefferson about it, right? Isn’t there something about an attorney-client privilege?”

  “No, the attorney-client privilege doesn’t apply here, because you’re not my client. However, you have my word that whatever is said in this office will go no farther. I promise you I won�
��t repeat it to Lewis.”

  Mark looked first at Roger and then at Liz. “A lot of us don’t feel good about what’s happened to Brad. In fact, the feeling is kind of like ‘there but for the grace of God go I.’ We’re thinking any of us could have been working in the plywood plant where Brad worked and could have gotten cancer from the formaldehyde. People know the manager was pretty sloppy about a lot of things. Brad’s family is having a tough time making ends meet without him being able to work and bring home a pay check, so a bunch of us have been passing the hat around every week after we get our paychecks to help him and his family. Becky, his wife, is working two jobs, and they have two little boys. It’s really a bad situation. He’s very bitter and angry about the whole thing.”

  “That’s so sad, Mark. I feel for the family, but I am curious, since he looks so ill, why he would have been out at the Jefferson property on the day David Sanders was murdered. I’d think he would need to do everything he could to conserve his strength,” Liz said.

  “I have no idea why he would have been there. He’s not a logger, and the land he was on is being logged. When I thought I’d seen him the other day I was sure I’d made a mistake, but based on this photograph it looks like it was him.”

  “I suppose the only thing I can do is ask him why he was there. Maybe something is going on that we know nothing about. Do you know where he lives?” Liz asked.

  “Yes,” Mark said hesitantly as he looked at Roger. “Don’t want Lewis to know this, but I’m the one that’s been taking the money we collect to Brad’s house. He’s a proud man, so I’ve been leaving it in an envelope in their mailbox. I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t take it from me. This way it’s just anonymous money that shows up in his mailbox every week. Here’s where he lives.” He looked at the contacts list on his cell phone and wrote down Brad’s address.

  “Thanks. I won’t say who gave me his address,” Liz said. “Matter of fact I’ll bet if I show the photo to Gertie at the diner next door she’ll probably tell me it’s a photo of Brad Cassidy. I can say I looked his address up in a phone book. No, I promise my visit won’t be traced to you. Can you tell me anything about the people in the other photos?”

  “Not a thing. I don’t recognize any of them in these other photographs. Wish I could help you more.”

  “Actually, Mark, you’ve been a big help,” Liz said. “I’ll go out to Brad’s home and talk to him after I stop by Gertie’s. Maybe he saw something that would help us while he was out in the area where the crime occurred. Also, I’m very curious as to why he went there given the status of his poor health. Thanks for meeting me here.”

  “Brad’s a good man. A lot of the guys are pretty upset about the way his cancer treatment is being handled by Jefferson Lumber Company. If jobs were easier to come by, I think a lot of the guys would look elsewhere, but everybody’s afraid of being out of work and with everything that’s happened in the lumber industry in the last few years, we’re all lucky to have a job.”

  CHAPTER 21

  Liz and Winston left Roger’s office after their meeting with Mark Bailey and walked next door to Gertie’s Diner. Liz would have asked Roger to join them, but she remembered him saying he was having lunch at the country club with a new client and as Roger told her, a man who could be a very important client.

  “Well, well, well, ain’t you two a sight for sore eyes,” the irascible owner of the diner said. “Don’t want the county breathin’ down my neck ‘bout allowin’ a dog in here so, I bought a little somethin’ fer Winston. Says therapy dog on it. Saw it at a garage sale the other day and thought of Winston. Usually we gots to hide him under the table, but now he can sit right out in public, proud as punch.” She knelt down and put a harness holding a small sign that said “Therapy Dog” around Winston’s massive chest. Gertie stood up and said, “Now he’s legal as can be. Come on over to this here table. You’ll have a good view of everybody that way. Got any news ‘bout David?”

  “Thanks for the harness, Gertie, he looks perfectly natural in it. As gentle as he is I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d been some type of a therapy dog in another life. As to David, if you have a minute, I’d like to talk to you.”

  “When it comes to you, honey, I’ll make time. What about his apartment? Gettin’ that cleaned?”

  “Well, I’ve had to hold up on that for a few days. It’s nothing you need to worry about, but since David was killed and you’re his step-sister, I think it’s better for you if there are some things I don’t tell you. They may be important in his case, and I don’t want anyone thinking you know something and then maybe they’d go after you. We still don’t really know what the motive was.”

  “Honey,” Gertie said laughing, “If you think I can’t pertect myself, you gots another think comin’. Been doin’ it long before you were a gleam in your daddy’s eye, and I plan on doin’ it for a long time to come, but I appreciate the thought.”

  “Is there something more you can tell me about David? I know he worked for the California Forestry Service. He was jealous that your mother’s Will left you what he thought was his father’s money, and that he was single. I also know he had a relationship with Ruby Myers, but that’s about it.”

  Gertie looked down at her hands and was uncharacteristically quiet, and then she slowly began to speak. “Never really knew him that well. Tol’ ya’ I’m twenty years older than he was. I got married when I was seventeen and never did live with my mother again, and I never did live in the same household with him. Sure, I’d see him from time to time when I went to visit her, but after she died we didn’t have much to say to one another. We was kind of like oil and water, plus David never could play very well with the other kids in the sandbox, if ya’ know what I mean. He was what I think’s called a control freak. Probably why no woman stuck around for long. Man had drop dead killer good looks, I’ll grant you that. Matter of fact, from what I heard, don’t think he ever met a temptation he could resist.”

  “Sounds like even though you didn’t know him very well you didn’t think very much of him.”

  “Yeah, that’s what I’ve been tellin’ ya. He coulda been killed fer a number of reasons, none of which I know.”

  “Thanks. I think I have a better understanding of your relationship with him, and I’m sure not hearing anything that would lead someone to suspect you.” Liz took the photographs Joan Markham had given to her out of her purse, handed them to Gertie and said, “Gertie, I’d like you to look at these photographs that were taken near the murder scene at about the time David was murdered and tell me if you know any of these people.” A moment later Gertie looked up. “This here one is Ruby’s husband, George. Tol’ that fat police chief to start with him if he wanted to find the killer. I jes’ know he done it. And now yer’ tellin’ me he was near the scene of the murder at ‘bout the time it happened? Why’re ya’ lookin’ any further? I’m bettin’ my last hamburger and malt on him.”

  “I agree that’s some powerful circumstantial evidence, but it doesn’t necessarily make him the killer. That’s not the kind of evidence that will stand up in a court of law.”

  “Well, maybe we need to have us some ol’ fashioned country justice and jes’ lynch the no-good son-of-a-gun. Ya’ know, some of the guys that hang out here at the diner could form a little posse and bye-bye Georgie.” She put her hands around her neck and made a choking noise. “Got me a few friends who’d be more than happy to do a favor fer Gertie. Lord knows, done a lot of favors for ‘em. Maybe it’s time fer me to call in some chits that are owed to me.”

  “No, I definitely don’t think that’s a good idea. Remember, one of the reasons I’m looking into this for you is because Chief Williams thinks of you as a suspect. I sure don’t want to give him any additional ammunition. I’ve got some other things going on, Gertie, so just sit on this for awhile.”

  “Easy fer’ ya’ to say, honey, ain’t yer’ hiney that’s lookin’ at goin’ to the slammer. May have wanted to do the nasty to David a few
times over the years, but I got me some good morals, and killin’ my step-brother jes’ don’t fit inta my lifestyle.”

  “I believe you, Gertie, I really do. To change the subject, as long as I’m here I probably better have a hamburger and a chocolate malt. It would be a shame to let this opportunity pass me by.”

  “Now yer’ talkin’ some sense, honey. Gonna give big boy here a little hamburger that one of the customers couldn’t finish. Ya’ don’t have a problem with that do ya’?”

  “No, and I rather doubt Winston will either. Thanks, Gertie. Want me to take the harness with me or leave it at the reception desk?”

  “Leave it. From now on, he’ll be legit whenever he comes in. Don’t know how yer’ husband will take it, him bein’ a lawyer sworn to uphold the law and all.”

  “Gertie, I don’t think that’s a problem. I imagine Roger will look the other way when Winston is wearing his therapy dog harness. Thanks again, and I’ll be in touch. Just don’t do anything without contacting me first.”

  “Won’t, honey. Was jes’ jawin’ to make me feel better. Ain’t the best of times fer me.”

  “I’m sure it’s not,” Liz said, “but I have a little niggle, and it’s telling me we’re getting closer to finding out who murdered David. Like I’ve told you before, if you think of something, let me know.”

  CHAPTER 22

  “Okay, Winston, just because now you can be a legal regular at Gertie’s, don’t be getting any ideas about being welcome in other public places. A lot of people don’t want to see dogs in a restaurant, plus I’m pretty sure there are laws about having dogs in eating establishments. You’re lucky you’ve got Gertie for a friend. I need to make one more stop, and then we’ll go home.”